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PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression This Week
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More
Unsealed: The Blood and Ink of the Prison Pen
Leo Cardez reflects on the limited resources available to incarcerated writers by explaining what it's like to use a "prison pen." More
On Bridgeworks Oregon’s “Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon’s Oldest Prison”
Moira Marquis reviews Tracy D. Schlapp and Danny Wilson's "Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon's Oldest Prison" (Bridgeworks Oregon, 2022). More
Where It Hurts: How Book Bans Restrict Access to Healthcare
Kwaneta Harris explains how book bans restrict people who are incarcerated from learning about their reproductive health and other areas of healthcare. More
Revised Florida Textbooks Left Race Out of Rosa Parks History
In an effort to pass muster in Florida, a history textbook publisher omitted references to race, even when it came to Rosa Parks. A revised text said only that… More
Hong Kong Authorities Should Drop Sedition Charges Against Booksellers, PEN America Says
“Producing and selling a book about Hong Kong’s 2019 protest movement is not a crime. Hong Kong authorities are attempting to rewrite the history of the protests by arresting… More
Student Disruption of a Judge’s Speech at Stanford U Deserved a Forceful Defense of Free Speech by the Administration, Says PEN America
“When a speaker has been invited to campus, they deserve the ability to speak and be heard, said Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager in free expression and education. “Students have… More
Oscar Hokeah Binds Together the Threads of Native American Experience in His Debut Novel Calling for a Blanket Dance
Hokeah Was One of Two Writers of Native Heritage to Receive Book Prizes at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony By Suzanne Trimel (NEW YORK)— Oscar Hokeah writes fiction grounded… More
Book Bans Are a Fact of Life for Incarcerated People. They Shouldn’t Be. We Can All Fight Back
Tell the New York City Board to Corrections Not to Restrict Book Deliveries to Prisoners By Moira Marquis In Texas, Kwaneta* is denied a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine because mailroom… More
Proposed New Laws Targeting TX Public Colleges Would Create a “Climate of Fear and Self-Censorship”
“Taken together, SB 16, 17, and 18 would make Texas public higher education inhospitable for free expression,” said Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and education at… More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
PEN America @DigitalRightsPK & @meedan invite you join @apniISPdot @lolkat @elodievialle for a @mozillafestival session TODAY March 20 at 1.30 pm ET: “Building escalation channels for online abuse... systems to protect human rights defenders & journalists” https://schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/RSXZTQ-1
I’m heading to Florida for this. We all need to be speaking out against book banning, censorship, erasure, and eliminationism. https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/1637514283952005122
Let Florida Read!
Join us Tuesday in Tally as we celebrate our constitutional right to read alongside amazing authors, students, educators of @FloridaMediaEd, @PENamerica, @diversebooks, @splcenter, @DemocracyFwd, & @EveryLibrary.
Register:
https://www.fftrp.org/let_florida_read_event